July 24 (Bloomberg) -- Mornings for Bruce Frasier, an onion
and cantaloupe grower in southwest Texas, are tinged with
anxiety over whether enough day laborers will arrive in vans to
harvest his crops.

“It’s a heck of a way for a businessman to start his
day,” said Frasier, who visited Washington to express his
concerns about a dwindling labor force as he sought to persuade
members of his Republican Party to revise U.S. immigration laws.

Frasier’s initiative emphasizes the crucial role business
owners, in particular agricultural producers and technology
companies that rely on immigrants, will play in the U.S. House
debate over easing current restrictions.

The industries’ voices may serve as a counterweight to Tea
Party advocates who oppose revamping U.S. immigration policy,
particularly Republicans from conservative-voting districts in
states such as Texas.

Small-business testimonials may be more compelling to House
lawmakers than the force of corporate lobbyists such the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, which played a major role in the debate
leading to Senate passage last month of legislation that would
provide a path to citizenship to about 11 million undocumented
immigrants now in the U.S.

‘Cowboy Boots’

“Small- and medium-sized business owners, or white guys in
cowboy boots, are standing up and making their voices heard,”
said Tamar Jacoby, president of ImmigrationWorks USA, a business
network that favors legal immigration. “There’s nothing more
valuable for a member of Congress than to hear from somebody who
votes in his district, who creates jobs in his district and who
potentially provides local cover at election time.”

The business community and its lobbying efforts may be no
match for opposition to immigration legislation from many House
Republicans. Redistricting after the 2010 Census caused many
House districts to become more white and conservative.

“The vast majority of Republicans in the House do not have
any kind of electorate that is pushing for this,” said Roy
Beck, president of NumbersUSA, a group that opposes a path to
citizenship. If a House Republican supports an immigration-law
rewrite “it would be the perfect opportunity for a challenger”
in a primary in 2014, he said.

Meanwhile, Texas grower Frasier and his allies want to
bridge differences over the most intractable issue in the
immigration debate: creating a version of citizenship or legal
working status for undocumented workers. President Barack Obama,
who received 71 percent of the Hispanic vote last year, has said
he won’t sign a bill without a path to citizenship, and some
House Republicans say that’s a nonstarter.

‘Somehow, Somewhere’

“Republicans are afraid of being chastised for giving
amnesty for 11 million people,” said Frasier, who met with a
number of Texas Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee
that oversees immigration legislation. “I know my workers. They
just care about being able to work. Somehow, somewhere there has
to be a compromise.”

Companies lobbying House members have disparate goals.
Technology firms want more visas for high-skilled workers while
agricultural producers want a separate guest-worker program.
Construction contractors are seeking to raise the cap on the
number of guest workers under a Senate-brokered bill. They’re
unified by an understanding that none will benefit unless
Democrats and Republicans can resolve the issue of citizenship.

U.S. Chamber

Separately, Senators including Republican John McCain of
Arizona and Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York have nudged large
companies and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to step up efforts to
influence House members during the congressional recess set to
begin in August.

Groups, including ImmigrationWorks, have been flying to
Washington business owners from the home states of Judiciary
Committee members, organizing letter-writing campaigns and
placing opinion editorials.

The Associated Builders and Contractors last month brought
about 400 contractors to Washington as part of an annual meeting
to talk with their home-state lawmakers. The International
Franchise Association plans to bring about 500 small business
owners for a similar event in September.

“Members of Congress are saying they’re not hearing from
their constituents that immigration is a concern,” said Matt
Haller, an IFA spokesman. “We’ve been trying to bring the real
business-owner stories to light.”

Technology Association

In their pitch, the Association for Competitive Technology
reported that most top mobile applications are made by small
companies in the U.S. The firms’ need for workers could be
addressed if lawmakers adopt less restrictive immigration
policies, said Morgan Reed, executive director for the
Washington-based lobbying group.

“We want to impress upon members that this talent drain
isn’t something only on the coasts, but in every part of the
country,” Reed said.

The demand for the visas was underscored in April, when
U.S. companies exceeded the 85,000-worker H-1B cap within five
days of the start of the annual application process.

The competitive technology group is courting lawmakers who
have pivotal roles in immigration legislation, such as House
Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia
Republican. The group has flown application makers to meet with
members of Congress, and has urged them to post Twitter messages
and blogs.

Facebook’s Zuckerberg

FWD.us, the bipartisan political action group funded by
Facebook Inc. founder Mark Zuckerberg and other technology
executives, plans to buy advertising and hold events in U.S.
House districts, said Rob Jesmer, the group’s campaign manager.

FWD.us has scheduled a meeting in Chicago on July 26 to
spur discussion among technology entrepreneurs, members of
Congress and the public.

Frasier, whose Carrizo Springs farm is roughly 40 miles
from the Mexican border, says his workforce is aging and that as
early as next year, he could face a shortage of laborers who
harvest his crops by hand. Most documented workers are hired by
oil companies that dot the region, he said.

“No one raises their kids up with aspirations to be a farm
worker; we realize it’s on the lower end of the totem pole in
the hierarchy of jobs,” said Frasier.

Texas farm wages were up 5 percent last year while the
number of workers was largely stagnant, said Alex Nowrasteh, an
immigration analyst at the Cato Institute, a Washington-based
research group dedicated to Libertarian principles.

Tight Market

“There is an increasingly tight labor market in Texas for
low-skilled workers, especially in agriculture,” Nowrasteh
said, citing data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Even so, Tea Party lawmakers who represent southern
districts oppose granting undocumented workers a path to
citizenship or legalized working status.

Frasier avoids the word “citizenship,” speaking instead
of the potential for a congressional compromise over
“adjusting” immigrant worker legal status.

“I don’t want a government big enough that can round up 11
million people,” Frasier said. “They have to be able to live
and work over here and earn their path to legalized status,” he
said.

One of the Republicans Frasier met with in Washington is
Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, who is playing a role on
the House Judiciary Committee in advancing immigration
legislation.

Biometric System

Smith’s position reflects the difficulty Frasier faces in
promoting a compromise on citizenship. The Judiciary Committee
has approved four bills dealing with immigration, including a
biometric entry-exit system, an agricultural guest-worker
program and a bill to increase the number of high-skilled visas.

“We need an enforcement-first approach,” Smith said in a
statement to Bloomberg News. “We should enact policies that
secure the border and strengthen interior enforcement to stem
the flow of illegal immigration before any discussion about
legalization.”

Even with some lawmakers supporting aspects of an
immigration-law rewrite, another hurdle remains: Republicans may
balk at passing immigration legislation out of concern it would
be modified in talks with the Senate to include citizenship
provisions.

Frasier said that in his meetings in Washington, “I felt
as though I made an impact because they didn’t hear it from a
lobbyist. They heard it from a farmer who’s living it every
day.”